Microsoft has announced
accessibility features and interoperability improvements that will be included in its Office 2000 desktop application suite, due for release in the first quarter of next year.

The new product enhancements, which focus on the needs of
users who face physical or mental challenges, were demonstrated
at an annual conference on computer technology in special education and rehabilitation.

One enhancement in Office 2000 is internal support for the Microsoft Active
Accessibility (MSAA) specification, which makes the product easier to use
with accessibility aids such as the screen readers used by the blind.

Though Office 97 was the first product to adopt the MSAA programming
interface, Office 2000 builds on this commitment and enables developers of
accessibility aids to create products that work with most on-screen
features, including menus, toolbars, dialog boxes, and forms.

Microsoft is working with users who have disabilities to identify
features that would make the software easier for them to use. The new
features already created as a result of that teamwork include expanded keyboard access to MSAA relations and graphics,
more high-contrast support within the PowerPoint presentation
graphics program, customizable views available within Help, improved Active
Accessibility support to the Bullets and Numbering dialog box, and better
interaction between Microsoft Excel and third-party accessibility aids.

As earlier
reported, Office 2000 will inaugurate a new component strategy and will,
for the first time, include Microsoft's FrontPage Web authoring tool in
certain versions of the final product when it ships next year. It will also
include PhotoDraw 2000, the company's new business graphics software.

Expected to be priced around the same range of Office 97, or $499, the new
suite also features the first beta version of Outlook 2000, the latest
version of Microsoft's email client software. The new version also features
enhancements like Office E-Mail, which can be used with any Office application and to
send messages as HTML.

In addition, the company demonstrated extensive accessibility features in
its Microsoft Cordless Phone System, which is expected to be on store
shelves later this month, the company said.

In combination with Microsoft Call Manager software, the Cordless Phone
System includes technology that allow callers to communicate with deaf
people using a text telephone; compatibility with Windows operating
system-based screen readers for blind people; tactile and audio feedback on
handset buttons; a handset ear piece that is hearing aid-compatible; voice
commands that help to reduce keypad use; and variously shaped buttons on the
handset for easier orientation for blind and visually impaired users.

Like Microsoft, IBM also demonstrated
products at the conference, which is in its 16th year, along with 148 other
software and services companies.

The conference covers a broad spectrum of technology as it is being applied
to all disabilities and age groups in education, rehabilitation, vocation,
and independent living.

"PC and Internet technology can help level the playing field for people with
disabilities, as long as technology companies make sure the products they
build are accessible," Greg Lowney, Micorosft's director of accessibility,
said in a statement.

Emails and phone calls to the coordinators of the conference were not
returned.

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